It was the ascension, numerous neo-Nazis came to Burg in the Spreewald. There they are said to have met and celebrated in the restaurant “Deutsches Haus”. The former customs house from the 17th century has been a traditional restaurant and a popular destination for many decades.
But right-wing extremist music is said to have been played there. The security authorities now fear that a new meeting point for the neo-Nazi scene may arise in the restaurant. And that in the middle of the state-recognized place with medicinal spring spa. The region lives from tourism.
The “Morgenpost” first reported on the case. But what is particularly fatal and was previously unknown: of all things, right-wing extremist and entrepreneur Daniel G. is said to have acquired the property in April with a loan from Sparkasse Spree-Neiße. So with the help of an institution under public law, whose sponsors are the city of Cottbus and the district of Spree-Neisse – government agencies.
But the 700,000 euros that G. received from the Sparkasse as a loan to buy the restaurant, according to Tagesspiegel information, were well below the threshold at which the Board of Directors and the Credit Committee deal with the examination of a loan. The board of directors is led by the Mayor of Cottbus Holger Kelch and the Spree-Neisse district administrator Harald Altekrüger (both CDU). The Sparkasse did not want to comment on the case.
Investigation into the formation of a criminal organization
Little is known about Daniel G. But the entrepreneur is a central figure in the neo-Nazi scene in the Cottbus area. He is one of the 19 suspects in a large-scale investigation by police and prosecutors that has been running since 2018. The accusation against right-wing extremists is: formation of a criminal organization, assault, illegal gun possession, tax evasion.
G. is therefore part of the network that the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution describes as a toxic structure and that is considered particularly prone to violence. Neo-Nazis, hooligans, rockers, martial artists and entrepreneurs get involved. The right-wing extremists have created their own economic foundations in Cottbus – with security companies, tattoo studios, clothing brands, labels for right-wing extremist music, even with cleaning companies.
Investigators also speak of a new quality of organized crime. The security authorities see the danger that a milieu that is no longer just a pure subculture will solidify, but will gain influence in bourgeois circles and generate money for right-wing extremist activities and actions.
It was only in January that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the “Zukunft Heimat” association in South Brandenburg as “proven right-wing extremist” and thus as an object of observation. The association proved to be a pool for right-wing extremists, AfD supporters and allegedly concerned citizens.
It can be seen in photos that Daniel G. was at various relevant neo-Nazi meetings, at concerts and martial arts events, at right-wing demonstrations alongside AfD officials and the “Identitarian Movement”. He can be seen in the t-shirts of violent right-wing extremist groups, including the “Kampfgemeinschaft Cottbus”, “Defend Cottbus” – and also the hooligan group “Inferno Cottbus”, who use threats, home visits and violence to dominate the FC Energie fan scene Cottbus has prevailed.
[Jeden Morgen ab 6 Uhr berichten Chefredakteur Lorenz Maroldt und sein Team im Tagesspiegel-Newsletter Checkpoint über Berlins Irrungen und Wirrungen. Jetzt kostenlos anmelden: checkpoint.tagesspiegel.de]
Searches in Daniel G.’s clothing stores
With the self-dissolution, the troops preceded a ban as a criminal organization in 2017. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution evaluates the procedure as lip service and assumes that it will continue to be active.
G. was also affected when the police moved to a large-scale raid in April 2019 as part of the investigation into the brown network. 30 apartments, business premises and offices were searched: in Cottbus, Spremberg, Frankfurt (Oder), in Hennigsdorf and Kolkwitz, Görlitz in Saxony, in Kühlungsborn in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and in Berlin in the districts of Marzahn and Lichtenberg.
At that time, G. owned several clothing stores in Berlin, in the Baltic spa resort of Kühlungsborn and in Cottbus. There, the investigators also moved into the “Blickfang” store, whose boss G. was once. Sports clothing that is particularly popular with neo-Nazis, such as “Label 23”, is sold there.
Now G. wants to do business in the catering trade. Burg im Spreewald is a popular destination for tourists, the inn has a large hall. G. founded a company for the inn with two other men, and he is the managing director.
The GmbH operates under a business address in Berlin-Zehlendorf, an address under which company addresses can be rented. The partnership agreement was already concluded in February and was entered in the commercial register at the beginning of April.
The “German House” – more than just a business area
The object of the company is therefore the “operation of restaurants of all kinds and restaurants”, in particular the “German House” in the Spreewald, events, “events of all kinds”, catering, rental and leasing of paddle boats, barges, bicycles, e-scooters and the like , there is also a guest house with room rental.
The Interior Ministry said that the property offers “special logistical requirements for holding right-wing extremist events such as concerts.”
And G. has another inn in Burg in his hand: the organic hotel “Kolonieschänke”. G. has leased it – of all things from Olaf Schöpe, the President of the “German Hotel and Restaurant Association” in Brandenburg.
Schöpe told RBB: “If you are looking for a company successor and finds a partner, then you are happy about it in our industry. You can’t see who is hiding behind it. ”The only chance to get rid of G. would be if he no longer operates the hotel as an organic hotel. However, the contract should also include a right of first refusal for G.
The community is warned. “The security agencies have already held awareness-raising meetings with local representatives,” said a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Now the decision-makers are challenged on site.
The mobile counseling team against the right, which advises municipalities and local politicians, is also active. Official director Tobias Hentschel is concerned: Burg is a cosmopolitan, tolerant and hospitable place. “National Socialist ideologies have no place with us.”
